


Liminal spaces

by SunsetSwish



Series: ShHiatus Bingo Prompts (Team Red) [20]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Airports, Alternate Universe - Human, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 07:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14444472
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SunsetSwish/pseuds/SunsetSwish
Summary: SHHiatus Flash Bang Bingo (Team Red)Square: Homesick aka depressed people stuck in an airport





	Liminal spaces

He has been watching them for the past hour. Seated in one of the cramped waiting room seats, Magnus is waiting for his plane which is not due to leave until early morning hours because of the abysmal weather conditions he can currently see out the large glass windows and can hear drumming on the roof of the terminal.

He was supposed to save money by flying business with 'other people'. He was only doing this so Ragnor would have one less reason to go on and on about the wastefulness of chartering private planes for Magnus's business trips. And, of course, that's how he ended up _stranded_  in a bland boring city, in a weirdly-smelling, bland waiting area of an airport. With no transport in sight.

So he watches people instead. There aren't very many, first because of the hour, second because time of the year isn't popular for travels. There is this one couple, however, to which Magnus's eyes keep coming back.

The man can't be older than twenty three, the woman beside him is probably younger than him. At first Magnus assumed a romantic couple but he changed his guess to siblings after ten minutes of observation.

They're both rather lovely with their black hair and striking features. Their height difference, obvious even when they're seated, is kind of charming. They're sitting close to each other and eventually the girl leans on her (assumed) brother and rests her head against his shoulder. She has her very red winter coat taken off and draped over her shoulders. The man is dressed pretty much all in black or charcoal shades with the tartan burgundy-and-green scarf being the only splash of color on him.

Magnus doesn't remember the last time he saw someone this calm yet so profoundly _sad_  as those two are. It makes him wonder if they're traveling to or from a funeral. The girl looks a bit sleepy, maybe a bit bored with waiting but the man's expression is pretty much blank, his eyes lowered and unfocused. Magnus thinks he wouldn't like to be in his head right now.

-

Alec lets minutes pass him by. It's just their luck they got to the airport in time to hear all about the delays everywhere and became stuck here. He has nothing to do now to distract him from what he's done today.

Izzy squeezes his hand. He still hates that she's here with him instead of comfortably at home, but he's also _happy_  she's with him.

He hasn't thought it would get as bad, go so far as to end up with him leaving home permanently, nothing taken with him but a large suitcase with clothes and a messenger bag with a laptop and all the important paperwork accumulated over time, from his birth certificate to his references from the last job that he also quit to get away. All his other belongings remain in his room. Let his parents do whatever they want with those.

Izzy just got her degree so she is in the more convenient state between school and getting a job, which is probably why she's going with him. He does know, deep down, that if she did have a job, she might have just quit as well to be here now.

It hurts him that he's leaving home before he even found it. Their mansion hasn't been _home_  since he turned fifteen and stopped being a child in his parents' eyes, entitled to leniency and praise without having to jump through five hoops each time to receive it. He's felt out of place ever since he realized he couldn't _just_  be gay and have their parents accept it or at least ignore it and let him be.

A lot has happened this past year that led to him and Izzy sitting in an airport, waiting to be able to go somewhere else, anywhere. From him trying to introduce some changes to the family company's policy to him breaking the engagement he initially agreed to. Step after step, he became so distanced from his parents he couldn't stay in the same house anymore.

 -

Isabelle doesn't quite share Alec's emotions. She's almost happy they took this step to move on and leave what was dragging them down behind. But she's also in a different position than her brother. Yes, she's had problems with their mother for almost as long as she can remember. For her attitude, for the kind of partners she spent time with, for the number of partners she spent time with. It was never enough that she studied, that she never drank too much like other rich kids did or never smoked, or that she didn't blow through her allowance and came running for more. She even worked while studying.

She was not the proper perfect Lightwood child. Her brother was, up until he wasn't anymore. And she's proud of him for taking this step, finally. She wishes there was a better way, a less painful way, but there was not. So she can only pack her bags and accompany him, hold his hand literally and mentally along the way and at the same time look for life for herself.

She doesn't know what it could be yet. In her eyes there's so much to do, to try.

 -

An information comes from the airport staff about the predicted time of next possible departure which is an hour _later_  than the previous prediction. Magnus takes his bags and goes to the bathrooms to change out of his suit which, while an excellent piece of tailoring, is not the best to sit in for hours in cramped seats.

Washing his hands after using the toilet, he stands in front of the mirror. He looks washed out, to be honest. It's a combination of the ungodly hour, the bad color of the overhead bathroom lights and there's also probably something in the air tonight, making people more miserable than they need to be. Hum of the air conditioning creates a background of white noise.

Maybe he shouldn't be going straight back, straight into handling more commissions and deals, and signing important paperwork. He's been knocked out of his rhythm of moving, completing his work, moving back, taking more work. This is why he prefers private means of transportation, to avoid hitches in his routine because they lead to _this_. To Magnus wondering if he wants to go back to his city at all, if maybe he should take another plane to wherever, hell, maybe even turn off his phone for a while. But then, where would he go?

He's been to so many places, met many people, has true friends in different parts of the world. But. Where he is supposed to fly tonight has his apartment and majority of his wardrobe and other belongings but he's hesitating to call it home. Because right now, under the too pale light of bathroom light bulbs, he wants for once to go _home_.

He changes out of the suit and into black pants and aubergine shirt which, being made of silk, is on the fancy side but very comfortable. He brushes his teeth because it usually helps him stay awake, touches up his eyeshadow and finds a single chip in nail polish on his left ring finger. He's not an ass so he doesn't fix it because what already miserable people don't need is the smell of polish or the remover spreading around public space.

He comes out eventually, wearing one of his favorite jackets for warmth, the black one with gold shoulder straps. He might as well wear all this black to mourn lost time, thanks to Ragnor. And hey, it might even impress the tall, dark and brooding.

Finding his previous spot, Magnus looks toward the pair, still seated where he left them. They're talking quietly, two dark heads bowed toward each other.

When he looks down at his self-assigned seat, Magnus realizes he's not ready to go back to staying put yet. His legs could use some more movement than just a bathroom trip. So he takes his baggage back to another area of the terminal and locates shops and cafes. Shops are closed but there's at least one café that's open 24/7 so he walks in and looks at his options on the menu display.

When he's standing at the counter and the young, sleepy lady is busy preparing his coffee, another person appears beside him.

"He likes hazelnut." A female voice says from his side.

"I'm sorry?" Magnus turns to the owner of the voice and finds himself looking at the black-haired girl, the sister. She's smiling at him, for whatever reason. Now that she's standing, her long red coat reminds him of Red Riding Hood, only something tells him she has more in common with wolves than girls in forests.

"My brother," She repeats, "he likes hazelnut syrup in his coffee."

Still smiling, she makes a self-explanatory gesture at the barista, who has an environment-friendly cardboard holder prepared to fit up to four cups in it. Three cups are currently occupying the spots, as per Magnus's request.

"You don't have any friends with you and you don't look like you're waiting for anyone. _And_  you've been looking at him." Red Riding Hood tells him.

"I have?"

"You were so interested in him, you didn't notice me looking at you?"

"I guess I did not." He's not sure he's supposed to apologize but he thinks not. He doesn't feel particularly bad about being caught, not when she's not actually annoyed by it.

"What do we have here?" She lifts one lid off a cup. "Milk?"

"Soy. I didn't want to risk it in case you were vegan."

"We're not. But I don't do so well with lactose so a point to you."

The sleepy barista is watching them, waiting for possible changes in the order. Isabelle turns to her.

"Please just put some syrup on top of this one. My brother has hands, he can stir it himself."

When the other girl takes the cup to add hazelnut, Isabelle faces Magnus again and reaches out to him. "I'm Isabelle."

Taking her hand, he offers one of his best charming smiles. "Magnus Bane."

 

They return to the waiting area together. Isabelle commandeers the coffee holder and presents it to her brother like a trophy.

"Refuel time." She tells him.

Magnus watches the brother from behind Isabelle. It's quite admirable how high those wonderful eyebrows can rise. 

"You said you were only going to the bathroom?"

"I got lost." She announces cheerfully.

Her brother blinks slowly, unimpressed. Then, he notices there's someone behind her. He gives Magnus a look like he's seeing him for the first time, like he hasn't been aware up until that point that there were other people around at all.

"Hello. I'm Magnus." He steps closer to reach his hand out.

"Alec." He offers because it's polite but there's clear question in his expression as he looks between Isabelle and Magnus. He shakes Magnus's hand with less than enthusiastic face and yet he doesn't snatch his back immediately. He also holds Magnus's gaze longer than he has to.

"I'm sorry if you didn't want to be bothered," Magnus says. "I saw you waiting for as long as I have and I thought you might use a little caffeine support."

"Uh… thanks." Alec takes one paper cup, looking at it like it just might be poisoned.

Isabelle, taking her own cup, rolls her eyes. "He didn't add anything in it, I promise."

"Which non-existent plane are you waiting for?" Magnus asks to not let this conversation die before it even started.

"To New York."

"Ah. I'm the same. I live there."

"We've only been twice." Isabelle says.

"Do you have plans there?"

"Yes." Says Alec.

"No." Says Isabelle at the same time.

Funny, that Magnus is more inclined to believe the sister, especially with the glare her brother is throwing her way now.

 

Ten minutes later Magnus is standing alone next to a pillar to make a phone call. He is getting the damn charter after all and if Ragnor complains then well, he isn't wasting resources on himself after all, is he? He has two more people needing to get to NY and he has been called many things, but never uncharitable. Pleased with himself, Magnus eventually returns to the waiting seats, to hopefully get some more words out of Tall and Dark.

\---

Despite Alec's firm belief that Magnus was planning to knock them out and sell their kidneys somewhere, the two Lightwoods make it to New York to start a new life.

 


End file.
